I just disliked this book from the start. I found no sympathetic characters, including the protagonist. I was very disappointed in this book.

Thank you Netgalley.

Great #OwnVoices book! I really enjoyed this book overall. As you’re reading, you’re thinking to yourself-Wow, the main character is really unstable! Then you meet the adversary and find out what happened and you end up feeling sympathy for her and wanting her to get her revenge. It reminded me of the show revenge-same vibes. Very good story & well written! There were some grammatical errors that I noticed-needs another edit.

Ohhhh this was a nail biting trip on a path of deceit, lies and betrayal, with some luxurious rich living and beautiful people thrown in! Perfect! This could totally be Netflix thriller series.
I loved the cover and decided to just read it without knowing anything about it because I wanted to be surprised. Surprised, I was.
5 stars!
Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for my free ARC. This review is my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley, Kensington Books, and Shanora Williams for this ARC.

I'm a huge psychological thriller fan; I devour them like a gamer with a Dew and a bag of Doritos. This thriller was subparagraph in comparison, however, as a debut for an author who's known for romance, it was good.

Every character is bad. While I love a gang of baddies, I need someone to root for, even if it's the worst of the worst, but I didn't get that in this story. The plot as well as the twists were unoriginal though not un-entertaining My biggest issue with this book: the muddled character POV.

This is a must read love it, Felt like I was watching a Lifetime Movie. When tragedy happens in 12 years old Ivy life she goes on to live a very destructive life. This book is full of Drama, Twist, and Turns, a real Thriller, Lola Maxwell was a mess and Husband Corey Maxwell. My heart goes out to Marriott ang didn't see that coming from Georgia. The Perfect Ruin is the perfect summer read love.

Wow! This book was so good that my boyfriend was complaining last night when I read through the movie we were supposed to spend our Friday night watching together. The characters were so well developed that I found myself loving even the bad guys! If the author meant that she was unsure about adding the last chapter to the final edit, please do!! It tied up the loose ends perfectly and gave me some satisfaction walking away from the book. Great read.

This was so good and twisty! Great plot and loved the build up. Reminded me of some of my other favorite thriller authors. Will definitely be checking out more from this author. Kept me interested til the very end!

A great thriller with lots of unexpected twists. Also some great representation! It ended up being really thought provoking. Could definitely see this one being made into a movie. Highly recommended to fans of the genre!

I went into this book completely blind after seeing it recommended by someone I follow. It started off fine and the story moved quickly. But overall I was left feeling pretty underwhelmed by the plot. There were no good characters to root for, which isn’t an issue by itself. But it made my not really care about what happened to them. The story followed along in a pretty predictable way, but it kept me entertained.

From what I have seen, Shanora is normally a romance writer, and I have heard she's a good one. I'm not a big romance reader, I have to be in the mood. So when I saw she wrote a thriller, I wanted to give her a try.

Is this the best thriller I ever read? No. Was it the worst? Absolutly not. Far from it in fact. It wasn't perfect execution and there were some parts slow and sort of dragging. However, this was a solid effort from someone who never wrote thrillers before and I truly enjoyed it!

I thought this was fun and could totally see it as a thriller on Lifetime. Full of unlikable characters and a “ridiculous in the best way” plot, it was just what I needed and finished it in a day. I did find that the characters actions and personalities kept giving me whiplash, but understand that some consider those to be twists.

Overall a fun, quick read.

The Perfect Ruin was a great read for me. The characters and book were well written. Just when you think you know what's happening there's another twist. Oh an what a twist this book brings! Things are not what they seem at all. Everyone seems to have a deep dark secret and I couldn't put this book down until I the last page! Who's pulling who's strings will leave you surprised. What a great thriller. I loved the book can't wait see what happens next.

Absolutely loved this book. I thought I had it figured out and BAM I was completely blown away. Definitely recommend this book.

Wow!! I absolutely love Shanora’s writing style, whether it is romance or thriller. She is so unique with how she weaves a story and this one did not disappoint.
If you are expecting love, romance, HEA... this is not for you. The characters in this are so dynamic. Ivy is so blinded by her hate she becomes obsessed and the only thing she can think about is getting revenge on Lola. Their stories intertwine from past/present and the another character is brought in. I know... it seems like a lot but it fits. Like I said before Shanora knows how to weave a story! She makes it work soooo well! This third character adds such a different twist that you will not want to put this book down (not that I could before but just wait and see what I am talking about). This is a must read!

I received a ARC copy for an honest review from Dafina Books published by Kensington Publishing Company.

Ivy Elliott lives for one thing - to get revenge on the famous Lola Maxwell for ruining her life. Ivy is smart, patient, simmering with anger, and willing to do anything to make sure Lola pays. The best part? Lola has no idea who Ivy is, but Ivy knows everything about Lola.

Ivy takes us step by step through her plot against Lola, which starts by infiltrating Lola’s inner circle and competing to be her bestie. Sometimes things go exactly as Ivy plans, and sometimes she has to improvise. Sometimes she makes mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes catch up with her. Spend enough time with Ivy and you’ll think you know her and the world she’s slowly burning down. But you don’t know the half of it.

I was really excited to get to read this book. I was worried when I first started it because I wasn’t sure whether I could hang with Ivy. She is poisoned to the core by her past; she is blinded by her arrogance; she is cold. Her very difficult life should have made me feel bad for her but she was so totally negative and closed off to people that I just kept shaking my head. And she repeats herself a lot, which was draining. I wanted to walk away from Ivy at first, but I was too curious and I’m glad I kept reading!

I really enjoyed all the character interactions. Too much time with Ivy by herself isn’t always a good thing but anytime she interacts with any other character I wanted to see what would happen and how all the characters would react to the different dramas that Ivy brings into each situation. So that alone would have been enough to keep me reading through the end.

THEN another character starts telling their story - I won’t say who because that’s part of the fun. But the second point of view is a totally different voice from Ivy’s and hearing from that character really starts building the tension on top of the circus Ivy is running. I WAS HOOKED.

THEN the twists. I LOVED the twists. Again, no spoilers.

The construction of the book is really cool and unique, and I thought it worked quite well to enhance the story and my reading experience. I was super impressed by the way this book used third person, two first person voices, and then a second person voice, AND THEN came into present tense when things get to the present in the story. Plus those two first person voices are technically writing letters - Ivy is writing to her therapist and the other character is writing to Ivy. This is A LOT of craft coming together to make the thriller work on a bunch of different levels. A big risk that, I think, really pays off.

I wouldn’t have minded having more opportunity to see things about Lola that Ivy couldn’t see - I wanted to feel more emotionally connected to all the characters and wanted to be more torn between Ivy and Lola because if I had gotten that AND the book did everything it does now, I would have thrown it across the room and probably broken my iPad...in a good way.

*I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Holy cow what a ride! Main character Ivy Hill brings us along on her plans of revenge - “the perfect ruin”! Ivy Hill’s happy childhood ended with the tragic death of her family. She’s now in her twenties & still attending her therapy appointments, but she hasn’t forgotten. Things change quickly once she is handed the name - Lola Maxwell - who killed her family. She begins plotting and infiltrates Lola’s circle of friends, work and marriage! The author has written many romance novels, but this is her first debut thriller. It’s a quick & suspenseful read! Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and the author for a gifted copy. This is my honest review.

The Perfect Ruin was an intriguing read for me. The characters and book were well written. Just when you think you know what's happening there's another twist. Things are not what they seem at all. Everyone seems to have a deep dark secret. Who's pulling who's strings will leave you surprised. I recieved an ARC copy from Net Galley and Kensington Books for my honest opinion. I loved the book can't wait see what happens next.

Shanora absolutely came through with this book! I am not much of a thriller reader but I trust her so much as an author and I'm so glad I did because I already know ( Yes, even though it's only February) that this is one of my top reads this year!


This book is fast paced, it's intense, insane, addictive and a full on mind f*ck! How this is Shanora's first time writing a thriller I don't know cause I can't tell!

You will definitely think you know what's going on but really? Just enjoy the ride because trying to figure it out is not going to happen!

I came out of this book an even bigger Williams fan! The plot...CRAZY! Execution....perfection and the ending? Just what I wanted!

The Perfect Ruin by Shankar Williams is about Ivy a young woman, who is seeking revenge about something that happened when she was fourteen. This book had lots of twists and turns and was well written. Thanks to Netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have never read this author. Mainly because I don’t read a lot of romance much anymore. So when I saw that she had wrote a debut thriller– I was alllll over that bad boy on Netgalley. Did I love the book? No. Did I hate the book? Also no. I thought it was a great read but it was just… great. Nothing really blew me away with it and nothing really stuck out. It was a thriller that I had read before so not much of an original story-line.

Ivy was awful. She was an awful character but she was written so well. When author’s can write awful characters in a great way, I am always impressed. If you can make an unlikeable, unreliable person likeable– I’m a fan. The writing was very smooth and made the story flow quite quickly.

For a debut thriller novel it wasn’t awful. I feel like a lot more could have been done to really keep the plot going but by the end of it I was satisfied and happy to of gotten to read this one.